their member user entries (not on the forum) even though they have NOT confirmed their email address.
give an example screenshot. it is not clear what you mean by "member user entries".
if they have not confirmed their e-mail address. what role are they? And display a screenshot of permissions for that role (i.e. unconfirmed e-mail address).
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
@Raven said:
I noticed something else very odd recently. Spammers are putting links and comments (like 'see my blog') several times on their member user entries (not on the forum) even though they have NOT confirmed their email address. I can't see how this is possible (that function is turned on) unless they are interacting with the signup software in ways that they should not be able to.
You need to disable 'Garden.Activity.View' and 'Garden.Profiles.View' permissions on unconfirmed accounts. These permissions inadvertently give access to comment boxes on the profile and activity pages.
I want to add my experiences with spam handling here. My website indianfootballnetwork.com used to get 15-20 spammers daily until I installed StopForumSpam and activated email validation(I removed ReCaptcha as I felt it was useless like someone above mentioned). This was effective only to some extent as StopForumSpam can only block IPs and emails with a history of spamming.
A few spammers would still get through everyday and post URLs in their profile and on the activity page (This is one useless feature Vanilla has, IMO). And still fewer would start discussion threads or add posts with spam links.
Being the naive webmaster that I was, I discovered the Ban List feature quite late. Until that point of time I had accepted a daily routine for myself which involved cleaning up the recent spam signups everyday (which was a severe pain until the BulkEdit plugin came by). I noticed a pattern of the email addresses and added some wild card values like *.ru, *.pl, *163.com, *126.com. I even went on to the extent of banning registration with Live.Com and HotMail.Com email IDs, .net email IDs (these are drastic measures and I wouldn't recommend for those who do not have a clear idea about their possible users). It worked to a great effect but some spammers still get through!
So I opted for the approval method for applicants. It was a nightmare. I am wondering how it worked for some of the members above. Ever since I activated this method, there would be 30-40 spam applicants waiting for approval daily with one odd real user. This again was a pain with the unavailability of a bulk action feature. I disabled this immediately and now have enabled only SSO Registration. This is going great. But I have a concern. I received an email from a user who had signed up using all different SSO options and also got the automated mail confirmation of registration. But to my urprise, his name was nowhere in the database. I fear I might be losing out on some users. I can afford this for now as its not a peak season for my forum, but may not continue with it.
So this is my story of Spam affairs. I know I haven't come up with a single effective solution but hope that my experiences will help others
@hbf I would assume this is because the default permissions in 2.0.18.8 allow posting of links to profiles/activity by default to unconfirmed registrations.
@somesh be sure to disable the permissions 'Garden.Activity.View' and 'Garden.Profiles.View' for unconfirmed accounts.
@hgtonight said:
hbf I would assume this is because the default permissions in 2.0.18.8 allow posting of links to profiles/activity by default to unconfirmed registrations.
somesh be sure to disable the permissions 'Garden.Activity.View' and 'Garden.Profiles.View' for unconfirmed accounts.
yes, any known exploits, such as the default activity permission set, make it a ripe target. They also target forums in general and use generic, application unique, searchable messages like this to find forums, wikis and other fertile ground for planting garbage. I'll be working to modify these default messages soon. that will cut down the spam attempts.
Would it make sense if we share banlist-entries to make a super-banlist. So everyone can install those. I might be good to put it somewhere not too obvious for SPAM-programmers, but still have em where users can find. It's rarely a lot of domains and mail-services so i guess the Spammers do not refactor their tools too often. Mmhh.
If you adress users from Russia, Poland or Phillipines leave the first three out.
Comments
give an example screenshot. it is not clear what you mean by "member user entries".
if they have not confirmed their e-mail address. what role are they? And display a screenshot of permissions for that role (i.e. unconfirmed e-mail address).
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
I think he means the profile wall. You can set profile permissions.
grep is your friend.
you are probably right.
spam getting through is probably due to permissions not as tight as they could bein the unconfirmed e-mail role
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
A) interNET Forum uses Akismet, and a Registration form Captcha (Not sure if I spelled that right)
You need to disable 'Garden.Activity.View' and 'Garden.Profiles.View' permissions on unconfirmed accounts. These permissions inadvertently give access to comment boxes on the profile and activity pages.
Search first
Check out the Documentation! We are always looking for new content and pull requests.
Click on insightful, awesome, and funny reactions to thank community volunteers for their valuable posts.
I want to add my experiences with spam handling here. My website indianfootballnetwork.com used to get 15-20 spammers daily until I installed StopForumSpam and activated email validation(I removed ReCaptcha as I felt it was useless like someone above mentioned). This was effective only to some extent as StopForumSpam can only block IPs and emails with a history of spamming.
A few spammers would still get through everyday and post URLs in their profile and on the activity page (This is one useless feature Vanilla has, IMO). And still fewer would start discussion threads or add posts with spam links.
Being the naive webmaster that I was, I discovered the Ban List feature quite late. Until that point of time I had accepted a daily routine for myself which involved cleaning up the recent spam signups everyday (which was a severe pain until the BulkEdit plugin came by). I noticed a pattern of the email addresses and added some wild card values like *.ru, *.pl, *163.com, *126.com. I even went on to the extent of banning registration with Live.Com and HotMail.Com email IDs, .net email IDs (these are drastic measures and I wouldn't recommend for those who do not have a clear idea about their possible users). It worked to a great effect but some spammers still get through!
So I opted for the approval method for applicants. It was a nightmare. I am wondering how it worked for some of the members above. Ever since I activated this method, there would be 30-40 spam applicants waiting for approval daily with one odd real user. This again was a pain with the unavailability of a bulk action feature. I disabled this immediately and now have enabled only SSO Registration. This is going great. But I have a concern. I received an email from a user who had signed up using all different SSO options and also got the automated mail confirmation of registration. But to my urprise, his name was nowhere in the database. I fear I might be losing out on some users. I can afford this for now as its not a peak season for my forum, but may not continue with it.
So this is my story of Spam affairs. I know I haven't come up with a single effective solution but hope that my experiences will help others
thx for sharing.
application approval with the following two plugins:
botstop plugin
http://vanillaforums.org/addon/registrationrestrictlogger-plugin
works much better than just approval alone. I know of a few sites that work using these and seen spam applicants reduced to zero.
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
Thanks @peregrine. I would definitely try that combination
Spammers are targeting vanilla installs by searching for common phrases in the default locale
Vanilla Wiki, Tastes Great! 31,000 viewers can't be wrong. || Plugin Development Explained
@hbf I would assume this is because the default permissions in 2.0.18.8 allow posting of links to profiles/activity by default to unconfirmed registrations.
@somesh be sure to disable the permissions 'Garden.Activity.View' and 'Garden.Profiles.View' for unconfirmed accounts.
Search first
Check out the Documentation! We are always looking for new content and pull requests.
Click on insightful, awesome, and funny reactions to thank community volunteers for their valuable posts.
yes, any known exploits, such as the default activity permission set, make it a ripe target. They also target forums in general and use generic, application unique, searchable messages like this to find forums, wikis and other fertile ground for planting garbage. I'll be working to modify these default messages soon. that will cut down the spam attempts.
Vanilla Wiki, Tastes Great! 31,000 viewers can't be wrong. || Plugin Development Explained
Asking.
Would it make sense if we share banlist-entries to make a super-banlist. So everyone can install those. I might be good to put it somewhere not too obvious for SPAM-programmers, but still have em where users can find.
It's rarely a lot of domains and mail-services so i guess the Spammers do not refactor their tools too often. Mmhh.
If you adress users from Russia, Poland or Phillipines leave the first three out.
*.ru *.pl *.ph
*.cz.cc
*163.com
*126.com
*1vipmail.net
*yandex.ua
*pleasegoheretofinish.com
*emailservice2011.info
*celebslive.net
*banglamusic.co
*trash-mail.com
*mailcatch.com
*mailmetrash.com
*goood-mail.org
*ahjvoice.com
*mailinator.com
*spamfree24.org
*kat-net.com
*mydetail.org
108.162.* IPAddress 35 131
108.177.* IPAddress 1 13
141.101.* IPAddress 17 362
141.101.99.* IPAddress 15 123
173.245.53.* IPAddress 8 79
173.245.55.* IPAddress 3 15
174.128.234.36 IPAddress 1 0
176.31.18.156 IPAddress 1 5
176.31.50.86 IPAddress 1 0
184.82.203.16 IPAddress 1 0
188.138.91.* IPAddress 1 0
190.211.254.* IPAddress 1 0
198.49.73.109 IPAddress 1 0
199.15.* IPAddress 29 51
199.180.* IPAddress 1 196
24.46.97.83 IPAddress 1 0
27.154.77.* IPAddress 2 0
31.170.107.180 IPAddress 1 0
37.233.2.180 IPAddress 1 7
5.39.44.19
50.115.170.106 IPAddress 1 0
69.122.163.124 IPAddress 7 0
69.196.208.* IPAddress 1 0
78.130.144.62 IPAddress 1 0
83.246.214.* IPAddress 1 5
88.198.238.* IPAddress 1 0
89.69.230.* IPAddress 2 0
94.27.71.49 IPAddress 1 0
94.31.250.175 IPAddress 1 2
95.118.25.28 IPAddress 1 0
96.127.135.* IPAddress 1 2
98.113.58.118 IPAddress 17 0
.ru Email 0 128
trash* Email 0 33
@mailinator Email 3 13
*@mailmetrash.com Email 2 14
*@mailnesia.com Email 3 79
*@outlook.com Email 25 365
*blog.com Email 4 3
*dispostable.com Email 0
Vanilla Wiki, Tastes Great! 31,000 viewers can't be wrong. || Plugin Development Explained
By the way. The list is saved in the database or? It's not a plain text somewhere in the folder structure right?
GDN_Ban
Vanilla Wiki, Tastes Great! 31,000 viewers can't be wrong. || Plugin Development Explained
Ok, thanx. Sure just to copy it to other forums.
Ah, I just wanted to update and say that by updating my plugin, my spam sign-ups have essentially disappeared. Thanks everyone!
which plugin?
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.
his
Vanilla Wiki, Tastes Great! 31,000 viewers can't be wrong. || Plugin Development Explained
question meaning which plugin did leftbrain update. leftbrain can answer since he knows.
never mind i see what he is talking about now.
I may not provide the completed solution you might desire, but I do try to provide honest suggestions to help you solve your issue.